NEW DELHI: India and Japan will work together to introduce artificial intelligence and robotics in the defence sector, the next level of strategic cooperation between the two Asian partners. Kentaro Sonoura, Japan's state minister for foreign affairs and a close adviser to PM Shinzo Abe, told TOI in an exclusive chat, "You should expect to see increased bilateral cooperation between us to develop unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) and robotics." The strategic sphere is where the bulk of India-Japan convergence lies. After the nuclear agreement was ratified by the Japanese parliament late 2017, Sonoura said India and Japan would be setting up a joint task force for commercial agreements by the end of January. With the legislation behind them, the Japanese minister said Tokyo was keen to get this going.

Over the past year, I wrote about a bunch of companies working on voice synthesis technology. They were very much in the early stages of development, and only had some pre-made samples to show off. Now, researchers hailing from the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms at the Universite de Montreal have a tool you can try out for yourself. It's called Lyrebird, and the public beta requires just a minute's worth of audio to generate a digital voice that sounds a lot like yours. The company say its tech can come in handy when you want to create a personalized voice assistant, a digital avatar for games, spoken-word content like audiobooks in your voice, for when you want to preserve the aural likeness of actors, or for when you just love the sound of your own voice and want to hear it all the time.

Achieving sustainable growth while coping with a population decline calls for "Society 5.0," a super smart society where we can resolve various social challenges by incorporating the innovations of the fourth industrial revolution such as the "internet of things," big data, artificial intelligence, robots and the sharing economy into every industry and society. Japan, in a sense, is far ahead of the rest of the world in realizing this new society, as it is compelled to do so. About 27.3 percent of Japan's 127 million people were aged 65 or higher in 2016, with the ratio expected to reach 38.4 percent by 2065, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The country's medical expenses are also expected to increase. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare reported ¥41.3 trillion in medical costs in fiscal 2016, and they are expected to increase to ¥57.8 trillion by fiscal 2025, according to the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies.

As the global environment has changed dramatically today with geopolitical fissures, technological advances and a shared economy, the World Economic Forum's annual meeting will kick off on Jan. 23 in Davos, Switzerland, with more than 3,000 of the world's influential and wealthy individuals coming from 100 countries. This year's meeting in the snow-capped Alpine town will focus on the theme of "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World," which will see discussions on possible solutions to the rifts that have emerged politically, economically and societally. "Creating a shared future in a fractured world requires addressing issues on the global agenda in a holistic, interconnected and future-oriented way," said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF. "Our annual meeting in Davos provides an exceptional platform for collaboration to create new global initiatives." One of the highlights of the four-day meeting will be the expected attendance of major political leaders, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the new technological frontier over which companies and countries are vying for control. According to a recent report from McKinsey, Alphabet invested roughly $30 billion in developing AI technologies. Baidu, which is the Chinese equivalent of Alphabet, invested $20 billion in AI last year. Companies aren't the only ones investing time, money and energy into advancing AI technology -- a recent article in The New Yorker reported that the Chinese government has been pursuing AI technology aggressively in an attempt to control a future cornerstone innovation. Considering that some of the largest entities in the world are focused on advancing AI tech, it is all but certain that 2018 will see significant advancements in the space.

Its main aim is to show the growing importance of robots and how they can improve people's work and daily lives.

After less than eight months of development, the algorithms are helping intel analysts exploit drone video over the battlefield. Earlier this month at an undisclosed location in the Middle East, computers using special algorithms helped intelligence analysts identify objects in a video feed from a small ScanEagle drone over the battlefield. A few days into the trials, the computer identified objects -- people, cars, types of building -- correctly about 60 percent of the time. Just over a week on the job -- and a handful of on-the-fly software updates later -- the machine's accuracy improved to around 80 percent. Next month, when its creators send the technology back to war with more software and hardware updates, they believe it will become even more accurate. It's an early win for a small team of just 12 people who started working on the project in April.

The UK tops the list in Europe for global tech investors, with its tech firms attracting more venture capital funding than any other European country in 2017. In December it was named by Oxford Insights as the best prepared country in the world for artificial intelligence (AI) implementation. France has made big strides in creating new tech businesses and encouraging entrepreneurs, with Paris's newly built Station F, a former railway station hosting startups, multinationals and investors, symbolising the country's ambition. Mr Hancock met his French counterpart, Françoise Nyssen, at the UK France Summit hosted by the prime minister and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, at Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst. He said the digital conference will take place this year and foster cross-Channel collaboration between academics, industry and government.

Dubai: Oracle opened its first innovation hub in the region on Sunday in a bid to cash in on the growing implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in the UAE. Oracle named the new facility the'Zayed Innovation Hub' and it was inaugurated by Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence. Arun Khehar, senior vice-president of applications at Oracle Eastern Central Europe, Middle East, Africa, told Gulf News that the whole idea is focused on Dubai Government and Federal Government's stress on emerging technologies like AI, Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain. "This will be a key contribution to what the government plans to do. The lab will show the power of the technology to businesses, public sector and the academia. There will be industry solutions relevant to this part of the world," he said, adding that investments in AI will be integral to drive the future of cloud computing.

A new program is being introduced into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) that claims that when it launches, it will be the "best artificially and emotionally intelligent virtual immigration advisor in Canada," according to its website. Founded in July of 2017 by CEO Nargiz Mammadova, Destin AI is primed to be the first AI-based chatbot created to guide immigrant applicants through the Canadian immigration process. Destin AI is one of six start up technology companies chosen to compete for a four-month residency with Ryerson University's Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ). The challenge is sponsored by LIZ and the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, and aims to encourage and support Ontario-based technology companies that want to integrate AI into legal applications. Destin AI offers a self-assessment eligibility checker, helps to prepare necessary documents, and leads users through the steps of their application.